


Plus One

by althus



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Identity Reveal, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 13:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12169863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/althus/pseuds/althus
Summary: Jess is getting married, and Lena asks Kara to be her plus one to the wedding. What could go wrong? Post S2.





	Plus One

"Take off your glasses."

Kara swallowed hard and stammered, "I'm sort of blind without them. Is there any way I can keep them on?"

The woman dressed all in black standing before her replied, "I'm about to apply your makeup, so no."

"Right," Kara said with a bite of her lip. She took off one half of her disguise and handed it over to Gwenifer the makeup artist without somehow snapping the frame between her trembling fingers. The woman took a step closer. The superhero leaned back into her chair. She stared into Kara's face. Kara averted her eyes until the Gwenifer placed her fingers on Kara's jaw to re-position her to look straight ahead. Kara had to remember to actually move her head in line with the human-scaled pressure from the woman's hands.

As Gwenifer, who did not answer to "Gwen," quizzed Kara about her makeup routine and preferences, Kara stole a quick glance over to Lena Luthor sitting a few feet away with her hair in curlers. The CEO was thankfully absorbed in her tablet as one hand danced across the screen drafting emails while the other hand was getting a manicure.

How did Kara end up without her glasses in Lena Luthor's palatial bathroom? It all started when she had heard during a lunch date with Lena that Jess was getting married.

 

 

 

"I don't know if I'll go," Lena had said between bites of her Cobb salad. "I'll just send something from her wedding registry or pay for her honeymoon."

"What?!" Kara exclaimed as she put down her cheeseburger. "Jess wouldn't hand deliver an invite to you if she didn't want you to share in one of the most important days of her life. Don't you want to be there when she walks down the aisle in her wedding dress in front of everyone that matters in her life?"

Lena rolled her eyes. "I think you've been watching too many rom-coms."

Kara recoiled like Lena had just kicked a puppy.

"It's not like I'm against Jess getting married or the institution of marriage in general," Lena protested. "I can be a romantic and a pragmatist. You say rainbows and sunshine. I say fanning myself under the hot sun waiting for the outdoor ceremony to end." 

Kara countered, "Then look forward to the reception. It'll be one big party with delicious food, dancing and a slice of wedding cake at the end! Wedding cake is the rarest, most special cake. What else will you be doing on a Saturday night? I've never seen you take a vacation since we've known each other. Have you already scheduled one of your hot dates with your work emails two months from now?"

"Low blow, Kara. The only people I’ll know at the reception will be my employees, who will either be scared to death of me or try to network with me," Lena said. She sipped her iced tea and proposed, "Why don't you come along as my plus one so that I have somebody to talk to?"

 Kara tilted her head side to side in hesitation. "I really don't know Jess that well."

"She likes you. Jess'll be out on her honeymoon after the wedding, and one of the first things she told my interim assistant was to always let you through my door, no questions asked."

"Will I have to wear heels all night?"

"I give you permission to wear flats. Open bar, free food, and I'll handle the gift," Lena pleaded. "You're not getting out of this after all your talk about how magical weddings are."

Kara agreed to attend as Lena's guest and also to drop by her penthouse apartment the day of the ceremony to get ready. Kara, who spent most of her time trying to be inconspicuous, failed to comprehend that Lena had spent her adult life tracked by the gossip blogs, the newspapers and everything in between. In this perpetual limelight, the CEO figured that if the moment was going to be documented (even if only by a wedding photographer), she might as well look damn fine.

Thus, when Kara showed up on Lena's doorstep, she had imagined a low-key girls' session of doing each other's hair and make-up. She'd even assembled the perfect Spotify playlist to soundtrack the occasion. Kara found instead that Lena had speed dialed a small team of beauty professionals accustomed to scrutinizing every square inch of their clients' visage.

Back in the present, Kara continued to sit glasses-free as the make-up artist dabbed a floral scented liquid across her face with a cotton pad. Next came something surprisingly cool which Gwenifer massaged into Kara's skin in little upward pulling circles. She might have relaxed into the touch of those supple fingers if she hadn't count all the bottles, tubes, powders and brushes that Gwenifer had pulled out of her makeup bag earlier and had yet to utilize. Kara's hair stood on end and nervous sweat condensed on her brow, which she was convinced the make-up artist noticed because she was six inches from her face applying primer.

Kara wondered if she could right now walk out of the apartment forever without looking like a weirdo. Family emergency! Urgent work deadline she forgot about! Left the stove on in her apartment! Those might have worked if she hadn't already used them all previously to cover for her crime fighting.

Could she sneak off into another room to set off the sprinkler system with her heat vision? Rip out a water pipe to flood the apartment? Given Kara's luck, Lena would be the justifiably paranoid sort to have hidden security cameras set up all around her home so using her powers would be at cross purposes to maintaining the secret identity. Plus, she didn't want to ruin Lena's home which she (or her interior designer) had curated with the type of paintings and furniture that would get her apartment a profile in one of Catco's lifestyle magazines. _Note to self: If I make it out of here alive, pitch Snapper on this article and get paid to hang out with Lena_.

Phone in an anonymous bomb threat against the building and force an evacuation? If the cops traced her phone afterward, she could call on Maggie to see about letting her off with a slap on the wrist. She would still need to explain the call to Lena who probably wouldn't fall for a plea of temporary insanity.

Convince Alex to conduct a DEO raid against Lena right now? Alex might just do it if it meant preserving her sister's secret.

"You have the bluest eyes I have ever worked with. It's a shame they're usually hiding behind those glasses. Have you considered contacts?" Gwenifer asked as she began applying copper tinted eye shadow. Kara strained out a smile at the compliment while her palms resisted the adrenaline rush calling for her to rip out the armrests of her chair. She endured further the eyeliner and mascara application that followed.

"What do you think?" Gwenifer asked as she handed back Kara's glasses. Waiting to put the frames back on before appraising herself in the mirror, Kara cursed that she would have to grab Gwenifer's business card later and work up the courage to ask how much she charged per session.

"Looking good," Lena catcalled. "You'll have no trouble attracting a partner on the dance floor. Just remember that you're coming home with me at the end of the night." Kara figured Lena was joking with her as friends do, but a hint of lasciviousness in her smile made Kara feel like she was flying without actually flying.

"High five, Gwenifer!" said the hairstylist Javier as he walked over after finishing up with Lena's hair. Instead of the usual bun or straightening, Javier had given her locks additional volume and waviness for a wilder, more red carpet ready style. Turning his attention to Kara, Javier said, "Let's get this hair down and see what we're working with."

_Gosh darn it._

 

 

 

Crediting a professed preference for keeping her hair pulled back and only feeling comfortable with her glasses on during the whole hairstyling process to see what was going on, Supergirl made it out of the apartment undetected. The ceremony itself proceeded without much ado aside from Kara sniffling at the personalized vows for which Lena had prepared a handkerchief in advance.

Kara entered the banquet hall of several hundred guests with Lena at her side and riding an emotional high from the ceremony. They found their seats at a table with Jess's cousins. Lena omitted her surname when introducing herself, and Kara did the same as to not call attention to it. If Jess's relatives had strong feelings about the Luthors, they didn't mention anything if only so Jess would have a job to return to after the honeymoon. Instead, barely after the pair placed their napkins on their laps, all the cousins began migrating toward the bartender and dragged them along for a round of shots. With the extended family spread across the country for work or school, they intended to commemorate their rare reunion.

Kara grimaced at the vodka's burn. She'd went through four years of college not sure how anyone enjoyed the taste. The alcohol itself did nothing for her as her metabolism processed it all out before it even hit the bloodstream of anyone else.

The multi-course dinner served family style more than made up for the drinking she was being peer pressured into—crab meat soup, walnut shrimp, whole suckling pig, and barbecue duck so succulent Kara wondered why people still ate chicken. In the lengthy waits between courses, however, the itch of the open bar inevitably overcame one of the cousins, though in the spirit of the festivities no one drank alone. They proposed toasts and took a puckish delight in rounding up any passing uncle or aunt in attempts to get them rip-roaringly plastered. Lena and Kara's presence was absolutely required they insisted as the two were now honorary members of the family after their sharing of food and drink.

Following rotations of champagne, cocktails, whiskey, rum, and tequila, the men loosened their ties and the women took off their heels. Faces grew red and bodies swayed as some of the occupants of their table began disappearing into the bathroom. Kara scarfed down the scallops that most everyone else was too inebriated to touch, which earned a raised eyebrow from Lena.

"I don't think I've ever seen you drunk," she commented with precise elocution and the barest flush on her cheeks. "It makes me curious what you're like when you've had a few more drinks in you."

"Everyone says I'm a happy drunk, but it's only happened once," Kara replied between mouthfuls of shellfish. "I have a naturally strong tolerance, I guess."

Lena took that as a challenge. Lionel Luthor belonged to a class of men that held as their right the three-martini lunch and a snifter of brandy after dinner. The old ways had become unfashionable in the modern professional world, but Lionel had made sure his daughter could hold her own. Accordingly, Lena had out-drank all those nerds at MIT, and no business executive played chicken with her for a second time when it came to racking up a tab on the corporate card.

It wasn't that Lena had a particular affinity for alcohol; she just wasn't going to let ray of sunshine Kara Danvers drink her under the table. Lena left her seat and returned with a bottle of cognac courtesy of a hundred-dollar tip to the bartender. She poured out liberal portions for herself and Kara.

Charging into this competition only she was aware of, Lena held onto her dignity and pride until she didn't. As the wait staff plated the wedding cake, Lena leaned in toward Kara, which gave her a view right down the neckline of Lena's gown toward the curve of her lacy black bra. "So, let me get this straight," Lena slurred. "You were dating Mike the intern, who was an alien prince in disguise. His mother wanted to drag him back to his home planet but settled for invading National City and betrothing me to him. Mike was also friends with Supergirl so she dueled Mike's mother to save him and the city. Did you know Mike was an alien? How's your relationship with Supergirl since she turned the atmosphere poisonous for your boyfriend? I know she was one of your sources at Catco; I read all your articles. Did you know I helped out with that lead poison plan? I'm so sorry about that. Does that mean you and Mike are no longer together? Wait, forget I said anything, too soon."

Lena eyes fluttered shut, and she leaned her forehead against Kara's shoulder for support. Kara patted Lena on the head, which Lena brushed away with the strength of a weak kitten. They (mostly Kara) said their goodbyes to Jess and her new husband. Kara was tempted to have the photographer snap a memento of them all together but figured the Lena of tomorrow morning would be mortified at her current state.

Lena's driver returned them to the CEO's apartment. Kara carried her friend into the darkened bedroom, where Lena flopped face down onto her bed. Her hands flailed around the zipper at the back of the dress. "Help me," Lena whined. After Kara dutifully undid the zipper, Lena shimmied her body out of the garment in full view of Kara and tossed it onto the floor along with her shoes. Kara gulped at the expanses of porcelain skin that the remaining lingerie failed to cover. _Note to self: Ask where Lena buys her bras because they're doing a fantastic job._

She kicked the dirty thoughts to the side and retrieved a water bottle from the fridge. She broke the seal and twisted the cap back on for later ease of access. "There's water on the nightstand when you need it," she said. On second thought, Kara also retrieved something from the master bathroom to place by the nightstand. "And a wastebasket in case you get sick."

She rolled Lena onto her side and attempted to tuck her in under the covers. Lena pawed at Kara's face with uncoordinated fingers. "Don't get contacts. You look cuter with glasses, like a sexy librarian," she mumbled. Her hands found the frames and pulled them off Kara's face. "Can I keep these?"

Kara suppressed a snort as her friend started dozing away without waiting for a response. She strode into the living room with the intention of spending the night to keep an eye on Lena. She'd forgotten to ask Lena where she kept her pajamas, and a traumatic experience of finding Alex's vibrator when trying to borrow her sister's clothes without permission had put Kara off rifling through other people’s drawers until the heat death of the universe. With her only other civilian clothes on hand being the jeans and blouse from that morning, Kara resigned herself to also sleeping in her underwear. She slipped off her dress and hung it from a clothes hanger off the back of a chair. She wrapped a knitted shawl from the top of the couch around her body and stretched out her limbs on the cushions while nestling her head against a throw pillow.

 

 

 

The blare of the ringtone sent Kara scrabbling for the cellphone on the coffee table. She overreached and tumbled off the couch half naked. She'd thrown off the shawl some time during the night. "Hello?" she groaned with bleary eyes pressed against the rug. Though laying in the valley between the couch and the coffee table, she could tell the dawn was already streaming into the apartment. "Be right there."

She slapped her cheeks awake and grabbed the suit tucked into her purse. The blast of the morning air woke the rest of her up. With all the close calls with her identity yesterday, it felt good to fall back on muscle memory and punch a bad guy in the face. After the rogue alien was in DEO custody, Supergirl floated back into Lena's apartment. She was about to change out of her top when she heard, "Supergirl! What are you doing in my living room?!"

For a few glorious seconds, Kara caught sight of Lena fresh out of the shower in nothing but a towel. Her dark hair clung to her exposed neck and trailed down to bare shoulders and collarbones that held the potential for so many teeth marks. Droplets of water wound their way along the tresses and deposited themselves onto a shimmering chest. The wrapped towel strained at the chest on an intake of breath and rode up an agonizing centimeter along the curve of Lena's hips. It promised ever so slightly to come undone onto the floor.

Reflexes finally kicked in, and Kara's hands jumped up to cover up her eyes. Her tongue remembered English. "Um, Kara Danvers had to leave for an emergency. She knew you weren't feeling well, so she asked me to check up on you. I didn’t mean to stare, by the way."

"Kara left her clothes and bag behind at my apartment and asked you to check up on my hangover," Lena deadpanned.

"It was a very urgent emergency, and she cares about you." Supergirl nodded for emphasis.

Kara heard Lena striding into her bedroom and sighed in relief that her friend was getting dressed, though a devil on her shoulder whispered that this was her chance to peep at Lena's behind sashaying away from her. Kara waited to remove her hands until she heard Lena padding back into the living room. Except—Lena had returned with the same towel hugging her body and had added only a predatory glint in her eyes that sent shivers of fear and arousal down Kara's spine.

As Lena came face to face with the other woman, the Maid of Might stuttered back a step in retreat. "Put these glasses on," Lena commanded. There in Lena's hands were the glasses she had pulled off Kara the previous night.

"My vision is perfect so glasses would throw me for a loop," Kara answered. She licked her lips.

"That's fine because I noticed this morning that these lenses don't have a prescription." Lena unfolded the glasses and brought them up to Supergirl's face. She could have leaped out of the window in a single bound but her knees stayed locked in place. The glasses slipped on over Kara's ears. Lena ran her still wet fingers up Kara's neck and through her hair. She pulled the locks back in imitation of a ponytail. Kara stared down into green eyes trying to discern the emotions behind a blink, a thump of the heart, and a breath upon her parted lips.

Lena asked, "So what do we do now?" Her hands fell to her sides, and blonde hair cascaded back down to Kara's shoulders. She turned her back to Kara and paced the room. The words Kara wanted to say and had even practiced at times shriveled up in her throat. She had a Titanic-sized sinking feeling that J'onn's shapeshifting powers weren't going to save her this time.

Lena's head whipped back toward her. "Why did you bring me lunches, send me emoji filled texts late at night, and go to Jess's wedding with me? Were you trying to keep tabs on a Luthor or did you just get your kicks from stringing me along?"

"No! I would never hurt you," Kara yelled. "I didn't want to lie to you. I wasn't even trying to be your friend at first—that came out wrong. I'm not explaining myself very well. There's Kara Danvers and there's Supergirl. I spend time with you because I never get tired of hearing about your day over coffee. I text you because I get this stupid grin on my face every time you respond back. Our friendship is completely separate from me putting on a cape or you being a Luthor."

"Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor just happened to become friends?"

"You're an amazing inventor who's taken down armed gunmen, terrorists and an alien invasion. You run a billion-dollar company. You take time out of your day to listen to me complain about butting heads with Snapper. Anyone who doesn't want you over for game night is insane. I wonder why you're friends with a reporter like me."

A blush crept across Lena's face as she bit her lip. She sighed as she massaged her temple. "Fuck it. I can't think with this pounding headache right now. Let's go somewhere with bottomless Bloody Marys."

Kara's brow scrunched together. "Excuse me?"

"Did you want the Luthor-Super title fight right now? We should sit down like imitations of normal people and get me comfortable with whatever this relationship between us is before we blow up half of National City in three months' time. I'm going to go get changed. If you want to join me for Sunday brunch, you should do the same."

Kara stood in silence as Lena gave her a view of her shapely behind as she disappeared back into her bedroom. "How about Noonan's?" she called out through the bedroom door to her friend.

**Author's Note:**

> How does Kara keep her disguise on when she needs to hit up the hair salon? Does she have super strong Kryptonian hair that she cuts herself?


End file.
